I just feel that most movies tack on the happy ending as a way of pleasing the widest audience and selling the most tickets, which is one of my reservations about the recent Slumdog Millionaire. The ending to Roman Holiday is more like dark chocolate. It's extra sweet, like a cheap, mass-produced chocolate loaded with sugar, and it feels right when you're watching it, but the taste is fleeting. When you're young and naive, you prefer the ending where Joe and Ann end up together. In that regard, I'm inclined to think of romantic films as I would chocolates. I like to think of Roman Holiday as a light-weight Casablanca, because both end on a poignant, bittersweet note. Not to say the ending is at all bleak, as I find it very uplifting and an affirmation of human virtuosity. If Roman Holiday had went with a phony, romantic, Hollywood Happy Ending, it could've been pretty mediocre. All these things are very endearing, but what elevates the film to something grand is the ending. ![]() More so than the wonderful sights of Rome, the delightful and lighthearted comedy, or the terrific cast. What makes the film great for me is the ending. The rest is a series of adventures, laughs, romances, and goodbyes. He is aided by his photographer buddy Irving Radovich, played by Eddie Albert in what I believe is one of the better supporting performances out there. Gregory Peck plays Joe Bradley, a newspaper man who hopes to get the scoop of a lifetime after unwillingly having a half-asleep Ann tag along home. Tired of her confinement to formality, she decides to break free (while fighting the spell of sleeping medicine) into the city of Rome. Audrey Hepburn is Princess Ann of an unnamed country on a goodwill tour around Europe. At the risk of pretension, I'm fond of calling Roman Holiday a "neorealist fantasy." It is a fantasy bookended by reality just as The Purple Rose of Cairo is, and it acknowledges this reality while embracing the moment of fantasy, just as a movie goer embraces the joy of the moment in the theater. It lacks the naivete of most romantic comedies, and is ready to accept reality at the cost of fantasy. ![]() It is a romantic comedy, a Roman travelogue, and an affirmation of the little things that make life worth living. "I will treasure my visit here in memory as long as I live." Images from the 2008 Paramount Centennial Collection release. Starring: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, and Eddie Albert Spoilers for Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Spartacus.
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